


Sweet Dream Beautiful Nightmare

by LetsGiveThisOneMoreShot



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Abuse, Changing Relationships, F/M, Friendship, Unhealthy Relationships, hero friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:00:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23045182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetsGiveThisOneMoreShot/pseuds/LetsGiveThisOneMoreShot
Summary: From the outside looking in, Samantha had what seemed to be a wonderful life. She was living with her boyfriend in a lovely suburban house. He currently made enough money for both of them to live comfortably without her having to work. He took care of all the bills. He gave her money for the shopping that had to be done. She always had her nails done, her hair done, and the most fashionable outfits. He made sure she had everything she needed. The only thing that people didn’t realize about their beautiful house, was that it was his home and her prison.
Relationships: Seth Rollins | Tyler Black/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

From the outside looking in, Samantha had what seemed to be a wonderful life. She was living with her boyfriend in a lovely suburban house. He currently made enough money for both of them to live comfortably without her having to work. He took care of all the bills. He gave her money for the shopping that had to be done. She always had her nails done, her hair done, and the most fashionable outfits. He made sure she had everything she needed. The only thing that people didn’t realize about their beautiful house, was that it was his home and her prison. 

Things had really changed a lot for Samantha in the last few years. She just happened to go to the nearby mall one day due to boredom and stumbled upon an autograph signing. She soon realized it was one of her favorite wrestlers. Having the time and some extra money, she snuck herself into the tail end of the line to see him. Lucky for her because they cut the line off shortly after she entered. Once she got up there, she surprised herself by being polite and friendly instead of being completely starstruck. Since she had been at the end of the line, time constraints were a little more relaxed and they were able to talk for an extra few minutes. He told her that when he was done here he was going to get something to eat and asked her if she wanted to join him. Now she was standing in a hotel room in a sapphire blue evening gown, fixing her make-up in the mirror getting ready to go to the hall of fame ceremony with her boyfriend. 

“You almost ready to go?” He asked checking on her as he entered the room.  
He stood in the doorway dressed in an all black suit with his long dark hair tied into a low bun at the nape of his neck.  
“Almost. Just adding some finishing touches.” She replied as she fixed her lipstick.  
“You look beautiful.” He said with a smile. 

He stood admiring her for a moment. Her dress was form fitting to her body, but not revealing. Simple but elegant. She picked it because he said this color brought out the blue in her eyes. Samantha had dangling earrings that matched and sparkled along with her eyes. Her long dirty blonde hair hung down in curly waves. 

Samantha smiled back at him. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”  
He held his hand out to her. “Shall we?”  
She grabbed her clutch off of the dresser and walked over to take his hand.

Tonight would hopefully be a good night. It would be a lovely and emotional ceremony. Followed by an after party. Tomorrow night was their biggest show of the year. Then the rest of the week would feature some of the most exciting live events of the year. Samantha was also excited because she would get to spend time with some friends that she normally only got to see on television. 

As they got to the event, they made their way through the sea of photographers and interviewers. Samantha stood silently by his side, looking up at him with a smile. Seth had gone public with their relationship last spring. Nothing over the top as Samantha wasn’t really comfortable being in the spotlight. But it was public enough that people knew he had a girlfriend. Every once in a while he would post pictures with her on his social media accounts. Samantha was just happy that he was serious enough to let people know he was taken. 

Once the ceremony was over, most of the wrestlers and their guests made their way to the venue that had been reserved for an after party. It was a really late but classy cocktail party. Mostly for everyone to get a little something to eat and unwind after the stoic ceremony. It also gave people a chance to talk to some of the older guys that aren’t around often. Samantha was standing alone in the room holding a glass of wine when Finn Balor came over to her. Finn and Seth spent a lot of time on the road and in the gym together, so he was one of the guys that she knew pretty well.  
“Hi Finn!” She greeted with a big smile giving him a hug.  
“How ya been darlin?” He said as he hugged her back.  
“I’ve been good. Can’t complain. How about you? Who are you here with?”  
“I brought my mom.” He replied.  
“Oh, is she here? I’d love to meet her!” Samantha asked as she looked around.  
“No. She went back to the hotel to get some rest. The travel and time change are doing a number on her.” He answered.  
“Aw, that’s a shame.”  
“Sammy!” A woman’s voice yelled out before attacking her.  
“Hi Renee.” Samantha laughed. “I missed you too.”  
“I’m so glad you came!”

The two women had grown close since Renee was the wife of Seth’s former tag team partner. Seth and Dean had been in NXT together. They were called up to the main roster at the same time and stabled together along with another NXT wrestler. They spent a lot of time together. Even though they were now rivals on t.v., behind the cameras they were still very close. When Renee and Samantha met, they clicked right away. They were both down to earth easy going people. Renee tried to take Samantha under her wing, being there to talk to when Samantha was upset about Seth being gone all the time. Renee worked for the company too and knew how much they were away from home. She helped Samantha deal with it and get used to it, and promised to keep an eye on their boys when they were on the road. 

“I'll leave you ladies alone to catch up. I’ll see you both tomorrow.” Finn politely excused himself and left to go over to the bar.  
“So did he tell you anything?” Renee asked as Finn left.  
“About?” Samantha questioned.  
“Becky.”  
“Woah, what about Becky?” Samantha asked surprised.  
“We’ve all been trying to figure out if they’re together. Just the way they act around each other. And they recently started traveling together. I know you’re close so I was hoping maybe he’d say something.”  
“He didn’t. But I really hadn’t been talking to him very long before you came over.” Samantha told her.  
“Damn.”  
“So, what kind of stuff has been going on between them?”  
“Come with me. I’ll introduce you to some of the other girls and we can talk.” Renee answered leading Samantha towards a table filled with a few recognizable faces.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Seth asked as he watched Renee introduce his girlfriend to his co-workers.  
“I have no idea, and I don’t want to. I’m just glad it’s not me.” Dean chuckled as he took a sip of his beer. 

Samantha had spent most of the party with Renee and the girls that she spent her time with while on the road. Most of the time Samantha was around Seth and his friends so it was nice to be around women for a change. But around one in the morning she excused herself to go find Seth.

“Babe it’s getting late. We should get going.” She whispered to him.  
“I’m not ready yet.” He slurred.  
“You told me to make sure you get back early so you’re not a mess for tomorrow. So I think we should leave.”  
“I said I’m not ready yet. Now leave me alone.” He said then knocked into her as he walked away.  
“Seth, please.”  
Her comment was replied with him turning around and giving her a cold stare.  
“Fine. Stay and drink yourself into a shit show tomorrow. I tried.”

Frustrated, Samantha left the party to go back to the hotel. She didn’t really have much money in her purse, so a cab was out of the question. Luckily the hotel was only a few blocks away so she was able to walk. She didn’t have any money in her purse so a taxi was out of the question. So the shorter walk in the floor length dress and heels the better. When she made it back to the hotel, she couldn’t wait to change into something more comfortable. Once her sweatpants were on, she threw her hair up and went into the bathroom to wash off her make-up. As she was leaving the bathroom, the room door opened and Seth drunkenly stumbled in. 

“What the hell is your problem?” He slurred again.  
“What are you talking about? ” Samantha asked as she pulled back the covers on the bed.  
“You just left without telling anyone! I had to get someone to leave the party and drive me back here to come look for you!” He answered in an aggravated tone.  
“You’re the one who told me to leave you alone.” Samantha reminded. “Then again, you also told me to make sure you got home early so you wouldn’t be a mess and you see how well that turned out.”  
Seth’s eyes narrowed. He walked over to her, but instead of yelling he backhanded her across the face causing her to fall onto the bed. Samantha held onto her cheek and looked up at him with wide eyes. Without another word he turned around and disappeared into the bathroom. Samantha sat up on the edge of the bed cradling her cheek in her hand.  
‘So much for it being a good night.” She thought. 

The sun was shining through the window early the next morning. Their alarm blared loudly waking them up. Seth flung his arm over to turn it off. He rubbed his forehead and groaned. Samantha was awake, but she laid with her back to him.  
“You were right.” He grumbled. “I should have come home earlier.”  
“Mmhmm.” Was all she replied with, still facing away.  
“I’m sorry.” He stated as he rolled over towards her, leaning himself up on his elbow. “I was an asshole. That’s why I really don't drink often. I don’t handle it well. But one with this guy and one with that guy turned into, well...a lot. And I feel like crap because of it, just like you said I would.”  
She rolled onto her back and looked up at him. A reddish mark was sprayed across her face. He reached down and gently placed his hand on her cheek.  
“I wasn’t being myself last night.”  
“I was just trying to do what was best for you.” She said.  
“I know. Was a jerk.” He replied.  
“Yes.” She agreed.  
“I’m sorry. How about you go get a shower and I’ll run out and grab us some breakfast. Whatever you want.” Seth offered with a smile.  
“No, you have a big day today. You go shower. I’ll go get us some food.” She replied.  
It was a huge day for him. And he did apologize. So she was trying not to make a big deal about it.  
“If you’re sure.” He said.  
Seth leaned down and kissed her before rolling out of bed and going to the bathroom. Samantha got out of bed. She sighed when she saw her face in the mirror. She tried to cover it up quickly before leaving for a nearby coffee shop.


	2. Chapter 2

Seth left for the arena as early as possible. He was in the main event for the title along with his former partners Dean and Roman. It wasn’t the shield reunion everyone hoped for but it was one the people were excited for. They wanted it to be perfect. Samantha was still at the hotel getting ready. She was trying to cover up the red mark that was on her face. She was happy that the dress code for tonight was much more casual. She was able to wear jeans and Seth’s newest shirt with sneakers. Once she was ready she got a ride to the arena with one of the girls that she met last night, 

“Hey girl! What happened to you last night?” Renee asked once Samantha got there.  
“Sorry, I was worn out. I went back to the hotel to go to sleep.” Samantha lied.  
“Seth was pissed.”  
“He knew where I was. He was probably just too drunk and forgot. Or didn’t listen to me in the first place.” Samantha said trying to play the situation off.   
“That sounds about right. Dean doesn’t listen to half the things I say.” Renee agreed.   
“Speaking of Seth, have you seen him around anywhere? I wanted to wish him luck.”  
“Last I saw he was back there by the entrance ramp.” Renee pointed. “You go find him, I have to go get changed. I’ll see you after the show. ANd hey, maybe tonight one of us will be going home with a champion!” Renee said with a wink.

Samantha giggled made her way to where Renee said she last saw Seth. He was still there, talking with Roman, discussing the match for later.   
“Hey Sam.” Roman greeted as she walked up to them.   
Roman was the third man in their group. He was a very nice guy but Samantha never spent much time with him. Roman just had a different dynamic. His cousins worked for the company, so he traveled with them. And he had a wife and kids back home, so whenever he had spare time he was either talking with them.   
“Hey Roman. How are you?” Samantha said back.   
“I’m doing well. How about yourself?”  
“Good. I just wanted to come by and wish this guy some luck tonight in his match later. No offense, Ro.”   
Roman laughed. “None taken. I get it.”  
Samantha smiled at him before turning to Seth. “How are you feeling?”  
“Surprisingly good. Probably because the adrenaline is kicking in.” He answered.   
“Good. I’m glad. Just make sure you keep up with drinking water.”   
“I know. I have been.”  
“Okay. Well I know you two are in the middle of something so I’ll get going.”  
“Thanks babe.” Seth said as he gave her a hug.  
“And please be careful. All of you.”  
“Yes mom.” Roman joked.

Samantha left them so they could finish preparing and was going to lay low in Seth’s locker room before she was able to go take her seat in the audience. She didn’t want to end up being in the way of anyone getting ready for the big show. She was on her way there when she ran into Finn.   
“Hey!” He said meeting her. “I’m glad I caught you. I got some good news for you.”   
“Oh yeah?”  
“It looks like your seat is right next to my mom’s tonight. So you’ll get to meet her after all.”  
“Awesome! I can’t wait! I hope she has a bunch of embarrassing stories about you.” Samantha smiled.   
“I‘m sure she does. I think that’s standard when you become a mom.” Finn laughed.  
“Balor! There you are! I’ve been looking for you.”   
Samantha and Finn both looked up to see Baron Corbin walking over to them.   
“We need to meet up with Elias and make sure we got our spot set up.”  
“Yeah sure. I’ll be there in a minute.” Finn replied.  
“Who’s this? You finally get a girlfriend?” Baron teased.  
“No, no. This is Samantha. She’s Seth’s girlfriend.” Finn corrected.  
“Oh. I’ve heard about you. Nice finally meeting you.” Baron said, extending out his hand.   
“Nice to meet you. And that’s always a terrifying statement.” She replied shaking his hand.   
Baron chuckled. “Don’t worry. Nothing bad. Listen, I had to be rude, but we really do need to go make sure we have everything squared away for tonight.”  
“Of course. Finn go do what you need to do. I’ll see you later.” Samantha told him.  
“Thanks for understanding.” Baron said to her.  
She gave him a friendly smile. She always tried to be respectful of everything whenever she was at a show. And it didn’t take them long to find Elias. Before Samantha could even step away he came running over to them.   
“Guys. I can’t find my bag!” He panicked.  
“Okay.” Baron commented.  
“Not okay! It has all my gear in it.”  
“You wrestle in jeans anyway. No one will notice.”  
“But it has all my scarves and bandanas and stuff in there too!”  
“Is that really what you’re worried about right now?” Baron questioned.   
“Yes!”  
“Elias calm down. Are you sure you brought it with you? Maybe it’s still at the hotel.” Finn suggested.  
“No, I brought it. I put it next to my guitar in the locker room. But only my guitar is there now.”  
“Well that means it's here somewhere so we can find it.” Finn assured.   
“I can’t believe this is what we’re focusing on right now.” Baron stated running his hands over his head.   
Samantha reached into her back pocket and pulled out a black bandana she was holding onto in case her hair got out of control. She held it out to Elias.  
“You can use this one if you want.” She offered.  
She took him by surprise. He was so worked up he hadn’t even seen her standing there.   
“Thanks…” Elias trailed off.  
“Sam.” She finished.  
“Seth’s girlfriend.” Finn added.  
“Ah. Well thank you Sam.” Elias said more sincerely, taking the bandana from her.   
“You’re welcome. I’m sure there’s a ton of stuff around here too that people would let you borrow. Especially by the seamstress or make up ladies. You can throw something together.”  
“That’s a great idea Sam!” Finn said.  
“Great. Can we go over the match now?” Baron asked. 

Samantha found her seat out in the crowd and spent most of the night talking with Finn’s mom.   
Samantha was telling her about all of the late night phone calls her son had been a part of when he and Seth traveled together. She also told her how nice Finn always was to her. He always had a playful charm, kind of like a brother. She did something right when raising him.  
They were both cheering him on during his match with Baron. At one point the referee was checking on Finn and Elias slid into the ring smashing his guitar over Baron’s head causing pieces to fly everywhere. That caused Finn to pick up the win and take his career off into a new direction. They both jumped to their feet screaming for him.   
For Seth’s match Samantha was on the edge of her seat. Of course they were all professionals, and would never purposely hurt each other, but accidents happen. They were all overly excited and wanted to put on the best show possible. This was Seth’s life. From a very young age this is all he wanted to do. He put a lot of pressure on himself. Samantha knew he would do anything to give the audience a good show, even if it meant sacrificing himself. It felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. She could hear it so loudly pounding in her ears that it was drowning out the crowd around her. Finally the referee counted to three, the bell rang, and the match was over. Samantha didn’t know how long she was holding her breath. SHe wasn’t even aware she was until she finally exhaled.

“The winner, and NEW WWE champion, Seth Rollins!”

The crowd roared as fireworks shot off into the sky. Seth stood up on the ropes holding the belt into the air. Roman was still knocked down in the middle of the ring and Dean was on the outside on the ground pounding his fist into the floor. Seth was once again on top of the WWE. 

A short while later Samantha was backstage mixed in with all of the excitement. Everyone was celebrating, proud of the show they had all just put on. She found Seth surrounded by his co-workers. She smiled and watched from the side. Sth looked up and saw her standing silently in the crowd and motioned for her to come over to him. She tried to squeeze through everyone that was around him. When Samantha got close Seth grabbed her, pulling her into a tight hug.   
“I’m so proud of you.” Samantha said as she looked up at him. “I know how hard you’ve worked for this.”  
He kissed her on the top of the head.”Thanks babe. I have this, I have you, I have everything I need.”  
He held the belt up with one hand and wrapped his other arm around her waist pulling her into a passionate kiss. Some of their friends had captured that moment in picture form, and within minutes it was on social media.   
“What do you say when I’m done here we go back to the hotel and celebrate?” Seth whispered to her.   
“Whatever you want champ.” Samantha replied with a smile. 

Seth left to go have some promotional pictures taken and to get some after match interviews done. After that he took a quick shower and got changed. Samantha waited for him in his locker room. While she sat there alone, she couldn’t help but to think back on the day they met.

“It’s nice to have someone to talk to.” Seth said as he sat across the table from her.  
“I would think you do a lot of talking with all the people you meet.” Samantha said as she ate a french fry.  
Seth thought for a moment. “I do, I guess. But I don’t always get to converse. It’s always ‘I’m such a big fan’ or ‘what’s your favorite match’ or ‘tell us about your workout routine’. It’s all part of the job, I get it. I don’t mind it. It just gets lonely sometimes.” He explained. “It’s nice to come across someone who’s down to earth and just wants to talk. Especially a female.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
“Most times when I meet a woman, its either a mom who brought her son and doesn't want to be there to begin with, or women flaunting themselves saying vulgar things to me.”  
“Usually men wouldn’t be too upset about that.” Samantha laughed.   
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s flattering. ANd there have been times I’ve hooked up with a nice girl while on the road. When I’m single of course. But the older I get and the more I see it happening, the more I think ‘why don’t you have more respect for yourself?’ I mean they’re throwing themselves at a complete stranger!”  
“You are not who I thought you’d be Seth Rollins.” She stated.  
“See! That’s my point. You know my face and my name, but not who I am. Why would you just trust a complete stranger like that? They make horror movies that start out that way!”  
Samantha couldn’t help but giggle at his rant.  
“I’m sorry. Hopefully it’s not a bad thing I’m not who you thought I’d be.” He added in a softer tone.   
“It’s not. I’m not going to lie, the fangirl in me almost stopped breathing when you asked me if I wanted to meet you for dinner. But the actual person in me was worried that you were just looking for someone to hook up with and I’m just not that kind of person.” She explained  
Seth smiled. “Well you are a beautiful woman, but that wasn’t my intention. You were just so easy going I was hoping to have someone nice to talk to. And now I’m really enjoying our time together, and I’d hate to see it end. I was hoping maybe I could get your number and call you sometime.”  
“I’d like that.” An involuntary smile spread across her face.  
Samantha had butterflies in her stomach. She could feel her heart flutter as he reached across the table placing his hand on top of hers. She felt like a teenager sitting with a crush. When they left, the realistic person came alive again, telling her she would never hear from Seth again. That was just a polite way of getting out of this situation when he realized he wasn’t going to get laid. But, she was wrong. And she never could have imagined what their relationship would end up being.

“You ready to go Babe?” Seth asked, snapping her out of her thoughts as he entered the room.   
“Yeah.” She replied as she stood up.   
“What were you thinking about?” He asked as she joined his side.   
“Just about the day we met.”  
“That was one hell of a life changing autograph signing.” Seth stated as they walked through the arena.   
“I’ll say.” Samantha added. “Are you still glad I ended up going to the mall that day?”  
“Absolutely.” He answered as he put his arm around her.


	3. Chapter 3

Monday morning Samantha joined Seth at the arena. He still had to do some interviews for the show that night, some meetings, photos and whatnot. She went with him to the arena to be there supporting him, but she tried to just hang back with people she knew while waiting for him. She was with some of the new girls that she met over the weekend.  
“There you are! I tried calling you to see when you’d get here but it kept going right to voicemail!” Renee said as Samantha sat down with them.   
“Oh. I don’t have a cell phone anymore.” Samantha replied.   
“I’m sorry what?” Renee asked as she blinked rapidly.   
“I don’t have one. I kept breaking it. So I stopped replacing it. Better than wasting money on it when I couldn’t use it half the time.”  
“How do you talk to people?” Renee asked in disbelief.  
“We’re not Amish Renee. There is a house phone at home. And that’s where I am most of the time.”   
“That’s just crazy! How do you take pictures? What about social media?”  
“Not everyone needs to post their whole life to Instagram everyday.” Dean said joining the conversation.  
“Oh shut up.” Renee said to her husband.   
“We do have a computer at home too. But I mostly just use it to find recipes and pay bills.”   
“I’m right there with ya doll.” Dean said to her. “Mush more old fashioned.”  
“How do you two live in this world?”  
“Much less stressed.” Dean answered as he put his feet up. 

It wasn’t until the early afternoon when Seth was finally getting a break. He was on his way back to his locker room when he was stopped in the hallway.   
“Hey Seth!” Elias called out to him.  
Steh stopped and nodded in his direction. He wondered what Elias could have wanted since the two of them never really talked. “What’s up?”  
“Could you give this back to Sam for me? I haven’t seen her around anywhere.” Elias asked as he handed the black bandanna to Seth. Seth raised his eyebrow looking confused. “She let me borrow it. My gear went missing and I was freaking out so she gave me this and some tips about what else I could use. I ended up finding it later that night. Chris took it by mistake. But she was really helpful.”  
“Oh, okay.” Seth replied taking the bandana from him.  
“She seems really sweet. Will you thank her again for me?”  
“Sure man, I will.”  
Seth continued on his way. He turned down another hallway to his small private room. He saw the door was ajar. Through the crack he could see Samantha sitting on a folding chair smiling. He could tell she was in the middle of a conversation, he just couldn’t see with who. He pushed the door open and saw one of the women who worked backstage.  
“Hey Janet, do you think you could give us a minute?” Seth asked her.   
“Sure. I need to get back to work anyway. I’ll see you around later.” Janet said as she turned to leave.  
“Bye Janet.” Samantha said as she left, leaving the door ajar. Samantha turned her attention back to Seth. “How’d everything go?”   
“Do you wanna tell me what this is?” He asked as he held out the black article of clothing in front of him.  
“I’m pretty sure it’s a bandanna?” She answered confused. “Are you feeling okay?”  
“You wanna tell me why Elias just handed it to me asking me to give it back to you and to thank you?” He said angrily and threw it at her.   
Samantha flinched as the bandana hit her cheek.   
“Seth, calm down.” She said as she stood up. “His stuff went missing last night so I gave this to him so he’d have something. That’s all. There’s no reason to throw things at me.”  
“And how exactly did you end up alone with him last night?” Seth asked in an accusing tone.  
“I wasn’t alone. I was with Finn and Baron, then Elias came over.” She tried to explain without getting too mad at his attitude towards her.  
“You were with that asshole too?!” Seth cut her off seeming more upset.   
“Seth. That was mean.”   
“I don’t know much about either guy, but I’ve heard stories about Baron. And Elias seemed to comment you a little too much. I don’t want you near them.”  
“He seemed nice.” Samantha said absentmindedly.   
Seth pretty much growled at her comment as he slammed the door completely closed. He walked over to her, wrapped his hand around her throat, and violently pushed her up against the wall. Samantha grabbed at his wrist as she struggled to breathe, which just caused Seth to tighten his grip.  
“I said I don’t want you near them” He yelled in her face. “In fact, I don’t want you alone with any man around here again. Even half the women that run around here are questionable.”   
He released her and she dropped to the ground gasping for air.   
“Have I made myself clear?” Samantha tried to nod as best as she could while she was struggling to breathe again. “Good. You better hope I never find a piece of your clothing with another man again.”

Samantha spent the rest of the night in Seth’s locker room. Not only did she not want to face anyone right now, she was scared. She didn’t want to end up with the wrong person and make Seth more upset. His temper was varying so much lately, it got to the point where she didn’t know how he was going to react from day to day. When they met Seth was so gentle and kind. She never saw him mad or even upset. Over time she saw him when he was angry, but at normal things that would upset anyone. Sometimes he yelled in general, but sometimes he yelled at her. Then he began to throw things in anger. It wasn’t until months later he started to take his anger out on her. Little by little. That was the real reason she didn’t have a phone anymore. They had gotten into an argument about her being on it a lot and not paying enough attention to him when he was home. She got upset because she was mostly talking with her sister and friends back home. When she got upset he accused her of using it to cheat on him while he was on the road. Seth ended up throwing it on the ground and stomping on it. It wasn’t replaced because she didn’t have the money to and he didn’t see a reason why she needed one. He needed to have a smartphone for using social media for work and travel purposes, but she didn’t. There was a phone in their home that she was free to use. However he went over the phone bill every month He would question her about who she was talking to and what she was talking about for so long. There was also a laptop at home like she told Renee, but Seth had put on some kind of parental controls on it where he would be able to see what websites she went on and what she was doing. He was able to get into all of her accounts, read her emails, etc. It just became easy for Samantha to slowly stop using those things over time. 

The show had been winding down. Samantha could hear the hustle and bustle in the hallway of everything getting packed up. Seth came back into the room after his match and got changed in silence. Samantha just sat in the chair, watching him, too afraid to say anything.   
“Did you eat yet?” He asked once he was dressed and had all of his things packed up.  
Samantha just shook her head. After what happened earlier she wasn’t very hungry.  
“Let’s stop by catering on the way out and grab something to take with us from what they have left.” Seth suggested.   
Samantha didn’t verbally reply. She just stood up, grabbing her fleece jacket, zipping it up as far as it would go. Seth grabbed his beg and left the room with her following. There were a handful of other wrestlers there doing the same thing. Samantha just grabbed some fruit then stood in front of the wall by the door and waited for Seth. She was zoning out and hadn’t realized that someone had walked up next to her. She jumped when they spoke.  
“Hey darlin’, where were you hiding? I didn’t even know you were here.”  
“Jesus Finn.” She said as she clutched her chest.  
He chuckled. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” His chuckle stopped as she calmed down, but still stood against the wall with her head down. “Hey, are you alright?”  
“What? Yeah. I’m just tired.” She lied.  
“Are you sure? You don’t look too good.”  
“Probably just coming down with something being around all these people.”   
“Can I get you anything?” Finn offered.  
“No thank you. I think I just need to rest.”   
Samantha noticed Seth was beginning to walk into their direction and she straightened up.   
“Hey man. Hell of a show tonight.” Finn greeted.  
“As always.” Seth replied with a smile “You getting ready to leave?”  
“Yeah I was on my way out now.” Finn replied.  
“You wanna ride back with us? We were just leaving.” Seth offered.  
“Sure. But if Sam ends up getting me sick I’m going to kick your ass.” Finn joked as he picked up his bag and walked out of the arena.   
Seth looked at him a little confused as he followed Finn out of the building. Samantha hopped into the back seat of their rental car allowing the two men to sit up front together. They made small talk along the ride back to the hotel while Samantha stayed silent. Once they were alone in their hotel room, Seth questioned her about earlier.  
“So what the hell was Balor talking about?”  
“He asked where I had been because he hadn’t seen me. I told him that I was just tired. He asked if I was okay and I told him I was probably just catching something from being around so many people.” She replied.  
Seth seemed satisfied with her answer. Finn was one of the few men he trusted, along with his former tag team partners. Seth turned and sat down at the small table in their hotel room to eat. Samantha got changed and went right to bed. When Seth was ready he climbed into bed draping his arm over her. 

The next morning, there was still no discussion of what happened the previous day. No apology, no explanation, he just acted as if nothing had happened. She somehow convinced Seth to let her stay back at the hotel that day. He knew she felt uncomfortable being backstage and only went to support him whenever they were local to home or it was a big show. So since he didn’t have a match that night and Finn already thought she was getting sick, he agreed. Part of Samantha was upset to be staying back at the hotel. It was her last day before they would be going home so it was the last time she would be able to see her friends. But she also wasn’t sure if she would even be able to face them right now. She didn’t even know how to act around her own boyfriend. He rarely ever put his hands on her, but this weekend was not bringing out the best in him. Samantha tried to tell herself it was just due to the stress of the weekend.

She spent most of the day laying in bed watching television. Seth had called the hotel a few times to check in on her. At first she found it sweet and thought he was going back to his normal self, but after the third time by early afternoon she began to get annoyed. Any time she was able to get some rest he would wake her up. And it started to seem like he was just checking to see if she was actually at the hotel instead of checking to see how she was feeling. 

That night Seth and FInn rode back to the hotel together again.  
“How’s Sam feeling?” Finn asked.  
“She’s okay. I think she just needed some rest. She’s not used to all this. It’s a lot to take in.” Seth replied while driving.   
“Good, good. Yeah it is. Listen, I have to ask you about something. I’m not really sure how to, but I feel like I need to.” Finn stated nervously.  
“Okay…” Seth said unsure.   
“Last night when I was talking to Sam, I noticed some marks on her neck that were sticking out from her jacket. I didn’t see them there on Sunday. And when I was walking around the arena last night, I heard you two arguing and saw you slam your door.” Seth sighed and rubbed his forehead. “What happened?”  
“We got a little carried away celebrating Sunday night. It got a little rough and crazy. Our argument was her yelling at me for leaving marks. She was so embarrassed by it she hid all night. She’s really shy about things like that.” Seth lied.  
“Ah. That explains a lot. Can’t say I haven’t been there.” Finn nodded with a chuckle.  
“Please don’t mention anything to her. She’d probably never be able to look you in the eye again if she knows you knew about that stuff.”  
“I won’t say anything.” Finn assured


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next few months Seth’s schedule got more demanding, which was expected. It left Samantha feeling a bit underwhelmed at home. When she moved to Davenport, she didn’t have a job in place and it had been taking her longer to find one than she expected. Seth didn’t mind it though. He had enough money coming in to cover everything. And he kind of liked the idea of someone being at the house and helping out with the chores he normally had to do on his day off. Samantha was doing the laundry, the food shopping, and cleaning the house so when Seth was home they would be able to enjoy their time together.   
At first it was working out great for both of them. Samantha didn’t mind helping out with so much because she wasn’t able to provide financially yet, but over time it got more difficult. She shared a car with her sister back home, so when she moved she came without a car. Seth didn’t like anyone else driving his car so he kept the keys with him even when he traveled. There wasn’t a whole lot within walking distance, so Samantha was stuck at home when he was away. Thankfully she had become good friends with Seth’s next door neighbor Megan, and every Tuesday they would go to the food store together. Samantha was very appreciative that the had a ride and space for groceries and was now able to do it before Seth came home, but she hated having to depend on someone else and making it their problem to take her. She spent a lot of her time working on budgeting since she didn’t have an income and was using Seth’s money for joint purposes. She didn’t want to spend too much of his money. She tried to use her own money for her own things, and it didn’t take long for her to go through her savings and end up needing help. Seth was understanding and he didn’t mind helping and adding her to his checking account. Eventually she realized Seth was monitoring everything on the account when he began questioning her about purchases and withdrawls. It started to feel like rather than just helping out, Samantha was expected to do anything. Whatever Seth told her she had to do, had to be done, and done correctly by the time he came home. She wasn’t supposed to ask questions as to why, and she couldn’t refuse. He used to show her gratitude for helping out, now he was angry if something wasn’t done. This wasn’t what Samantha signed up for when she agreed to move in with him.   
There were times she wanted to talk to her sister about it, but every time she tried the conversation was cut off by her sister saying how lucky Samantha was she didn’t have to get up and go to work. And she had Seth Rollins coming home to her, Her sister wasn’t doing it on purpose. She never knew Samantha was feeling down about how things were, and her sister’s positivity always made her second guess herself. And there was Megan from next door. Samantha did forge a good relationship with her. They would spend time together outside of their shopping trips. She was a very down to earth person, but Samantha never felt comfortable enough to bring up her frustrations with her. Megan had known Seth since he moved in. They were friends too. Samantha couldn’t risk Megan saying anything to him. She knew it was going to be hard, but she had to talk to Seth and let him know how she was feeling. 

“Seth, we need to talk.” Samantha said as they sat on the couch after dinner.  
“What’s up?” He asked.   
“I’m not happy.” She said a little more bluntly than she had planned.   
“What do you mean you’re not happy?” He asked confused and a little upset.   
“I’m not happy with how things are right now.” She admitted.   
“What’s there not to be happy about? I give you money to get your nails done and get you a ride there. I buy you nice clothes and shoes. I take care of everything financially while you don’t have to work. What more do you want from me?”  
“FIrst of all, I never asked for any of that. Second, that’s not what this is about. It’s everything you expect from me.”  
“What?” He said with an aggravated chuckle. “For you to do a few loads of laundry and vacuum while I’m gone?”  
“Seth you expect me to do so much more than that.”  
“Doing some shit here is the least you could do since you’re here all day while I’m the one who’s actually working.”  
“Did you ever think maybe I wanted to work?” Samantha argued. “I have no problem helping out around the house Seth but it’s not every woman’s dream to be a home aer anymore.”  
“You’re fucking kidding me right?” He asked with another chuckle.  
Samantha tilted her head in disbelief at how this conversation was going. “No, I’m not. I’m not your maid Seth. And while we’re at it, all those other things you “take care of” for me, I do them because you insist. I don’t need fancy clothes or to go to salons all the time. I do it because you think it’s important! Honestly, if it was up to me I’d rather you take the money you spend on that stuff and replace the phone that you broke so I can have some kind of contact with the outside world!” Samantha explained getting out all the frustration that had been building.   
Seth sat there for a minute, as if he was finally taking in everything she had said. Samantha was hoping maybe she got through to him. Then he spoke.   
“You really are an ungrateful bitch, you know that?”  
“Excuse me?”  
“I take care of you. I give you the life any woman would kill to have. And you tell me you’re not happy with it. Then have the nerve to ask me for money?”  
“I have never asked you for a damn thing. Ever. The only thing I said was if you wanted to spend money I’d be happier if it went towards you replacing something of mine that you broke.”  
Samantha could see the rage building up in his eyes as he stared at her. He stood up off of the couch, both his fists and his jaw clenched tightly as he walked over towards her. Samantha swallowed hard as she looked up at him.  
“If that’s how you feel, then get your shit, and get out.” He said in a deep voice, then walked out of the room.   
“Seth, wait. That’s not what I want.” Samantha quickly got off the couch and followed him.   
He turned around to face her. “Obviously it is. You want a job. You want to be with other people.You’d rather be on social media instead of talking with me. So go.”  
“That’s not what I said.”  
“Isn’t it?” He asked as he began taking steps towards her.  
Every time he took a step forward, she took one back out of fear. She went as far as she could until she backed up against a wall by the entryway.   
“So you’re trying to backtrack now and tell me you didn’t just call me selfish and demanding?”  
He asked as he turned and walked close to her catching her off guard. He started taking steps towards her, but whenever he took one forward she took one back until she was backed up against a wall by their front door.  
“So you’re trying to backtrack now and tell me you didn’t just call me selfish and demanding?”   
“I, I didn’t.” She stuttered as she was trapped between his muscular frame and the wall.   
“Not in those exact words.”  
“I just wanted to talk to you about how I was feeling, and see if there was anything we could change.” She stammered.   
Samantha could barely look at him as he stood in front of her staring her down. Even though he wasn’t moving, the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice was enough to make her flinch. She didn’t want to fight. She just wanted to talk about things, about her being able to get a job and use his car while he was gone. Maybe sharing some of the responsibilities. Just making them more like partners again. Samantha had strong feelings for Seth. She didn’t want to end the relationship, she wanted to adjust it and move forward with their lives together.   
“You’re lucky I haven’t grabbed you and thrown your ass out on the lawn already.” He growled. “So are you going or do I have to drag you out?”  
It was late. The rain was coming down hard. Samantha had nowhere to go. She just wanted to make him see that this was all a big misunderstanding.   
“I don’t want to leave.” She whispered looking down.   
“Why should I let you stay here?”  
“Because I want to. I don’t want to leave you. I love you.” She choked out, both with sadness and fear in her voice.   
The corner of his mouth perked up into a crooked smile. He put his hand on the wall next to her head.   
“Because I’m a nice guy, I’ll let you stay the night. But only to try and earn my forgiveness. If you don’t, you and your shit will be thrown out into the yard in the morning. Got it?”  
Samantha quietly nodded. She really didn’t know what he had in mind. The way he was smiling down at her was a look she had never seen before in him. She couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but something about it made her stomach turn.


	5. Flashback

Flashback

There was a show about four hours away from where Samantha lived. Seth had surprised her on several occasions showing up on his days off, so she decided to try and surprise him. She took time off work and made the drive to the town the show was in. It wasn’t too hard to find the hotel everyone was staying in. She wanted to get there before Seth left for the arena. 

When she walked into the lobby she saw a few familiar faces, a lot of people in wrestling shirts, and a few people in business suits trying to avoid the commotion. She scanned the lobby for the one specific face she was looking for. Samantha finally saw him standing by the elevator. He had a big adorable smile spread across his face and she could tell that he was deep in conversation. Samantha began to walk over to him. As she got closer and made her way around people she saw who he was talking to. It was a young woman who barely looked legal. Along with her barely legal look she was barely wearing any clothes. She had on really short jean shorts and a Seth Rollins tank top. Samantha roller her eyes as she watched the girl giggle and touch his arm. She didn’t really like it, but she didn’t think anything of it. He was stopped by his fans all the time and unfortunately this was part of what he had to deal with. When they met Seth told her that women flirted with him all the time. But her feelings changed when the elevator door opened and Seth walked in with the girl following him. Samantha picked up her pace and got to the elevator just as the doors began to close. The last thing Seth saw before the doors shut was the upset look on his girlfriend’s face. Once the doors closed SAmantha turned around and stormed through the lobby trying to hold back tears. She almost made it to the front door when she was stopped by Renee. 

“Hey girl! I didn’t know you were going to be here today!” She said surprised. “Where are you going?”  
“Home.” Samantha answered and tried to push passed her.  
“Hold on. What’s wrong?” Renee asked concerned, stopping her again.  
“I came here to surprise Seth. Clearly I did judging by the look on his face when I caught him in the elevator with a half naked girl that had been flirting with him.”  
“Oh honey.” Renee said as she put her arm around her friend. “I’m sure it’s not what you’re thinking.”  
“Sam, wait!” They heard Seth calling as he ran out of the stairwell. “What are you doing here?”  
“Apparently interrupting your fun so I’ll just go and let you get back to it.” Samantha replied.  
“Sam, it’s not what it looked like.” Seth told her.   
“Yeah, I’m sure. I hope you at least checked her I.D. first. She looks young.”   
Sam…”  
“I’m not sure now is the right time Seth.” Renee stated in a quiet but stern tone.   
“She’s my girlfriend Renee. I have to talk to her.”  
“And she’s my friend and I think she needs some space right now.” Renee reasoned.   
“And she’s right here and just wants to leave.” Samantha interjected.   
“Sam, you can’t leave right now. I don’t feel comfortable with you driving with how upset you are.   
I have some time before I have to leave for the show. Why don’t you come back to my room and talk with me for a bit. We’ll kick Dean out and send him to Seth’s room.” Renee suggested softly.  
“Renee come on, you know me.” Seth pleaded.  
“And that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is how Sam feels.” Renee told him.   
Renee walked Samantha over to the elevator. Samantha sniffed, still trying to stop herself from crying. Now that Seth was on the other side of the room and her anger towards him was fading, it was getting harder. When they were in the elevator, Renee took out her phone and texted Seth.  
‘Just give her a little time to talk and calm down. I’ll take care of her and let you know when she’s good for you to talk to.’  
‘Thanks Renee.” He sent back.   
Seth sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He fucked up, and he knew it. 

About an hour later Seth and Dean were on the way back to his hotel room after getting the okay from Renee. Renee and Dean left for the arena to give them some privacy to talk. Samantha was more composed than she was earlier but still just as upset. Seth sat down on the edge of the bed next to her.

“I’m glad to see you.” He said.  
“Sure didn’t look like it.” She retorted with an attitude.  
“I was just surprised. I didn’t expect to see you.”  
“That was pretty obvious. I don’t think you’d be going off with another woman if you knew I was coming.”  
“I know what that must have looked like Sam. I’m sorry that upset you.” Seth said, sounding very sinceer. “Yes she was flirting with me, but I was just doing my job and talking to a fan. I have to be nice and pleasant or else I’ll get myself in trouble. The conversation ended. I left to come back to my room. She got in the elevator too to go to her room. At least that’s what she said. I can’t help it if she’s staying here too. But I wasn’t going with her. I wouldn’t do that to you.”  
“And what if she was lying and trying to follow you to your room?”  
“Then I would have gone down to the lobby, have her escorted out, and get my room changed.” He answered.   
“I really want to believe that Seth. Deep down I do, but it’s just so hard. I barely ever get to see you. And whenever I do, you have women all over you. And I know when I’m not with you you’re going from hotel to hotel with these people just waiting for you. And I just have to step aside and share you.” Samantha explained, moreso upset at the situation than at him at the moment.  
He placed his hand on top of hers. “So come home with me.”  
“I can’t. I only took off today and tomorrow to come surprise you.” Samantha replied.  
“That’s not what I meant. Come home with me, and stay.”  
She looked at him very surprised. “Seth, are you serious? I don’t want you to do this if you’re not ready…”  
“Of course. You don’t think I miss seeing you too?” He smiled while pushing a strand of hair out of her face. “I was going to talk to you about it the next time I saw you. This isn’t really how I wanted it to go, but there’s no better time to bring it up than now. So what do you say?”  
“Of course Seth. I would love that.”   
Samantha had never smiled so big in her life. Seth leaned in and placed his forehead gently on hers.   
“Now no matter where I am, you know I’ll be coming home to you.”


	6. Chapter 6

Samantha felt so isolated. Seth started getting on her case about the amount of phone calls she was making to her family. Questioning her if she was hiding something. He would call her a lot while he was on the road and would get upset if she took too long to answer. Samantha stopped withdrawing money from his account and would only use his card to pay for everything. She always had to prove where the money went. If she didn’t have all of the receipts and everything added up, there would be a problem. Seth wanted to make sure she wasn’t hoarding money. As time went on, not only did she not feel like his girlfriend anymore, she barely even felt like a person. 

Autumn was here and Samantha’s parents had started asking if they thought about what they were going to do for the upcoming holidays yet. They knew things would be tough with Seth’s schedule, but were hoping that they would get to see her and Seth at some point. She tried to bring it up to Seth a few times but he always shut her down. She knew that his mother was important to him and didn’t want to be selfish and take him away, but she had missed their family too. It was getting closer and closer and she felt like their families needed to know so they could all plan accordingly. So during one of their phone calls, she pushed Seth for an answer. He was really annoyed and told her that he would give her an answer when he got home. Samantha just agreed and didn’t think much of it until she was vacuuming the next morning and heard the front door slam. 

“Seth, what are you doing home? Is everything okay?” Samantha asked concerned.  
Seth wasn’t supposed to be back home for another few days.   
“Family emergency.” He replied.  
“What happened?”  
“My girlfriend was being a gaslighting bitch and it ended up getting her into an accident.”  
Before she even had time to react to what Seth said, he had punched her in the face with enough force to knock her to the ground. Then he kicked her in the stomach knocking the wind out of her.  
“I don’t know what the hell you thought you were thinking, calling me while I was on the road, arguing with me about shit I said we were done with.”   
Samantha was holding her stomach, trying to get the air flowing again. She was confused and scared. She had never seen Seth like this before. And she wasn’t even completely sure why he was so angry.  
“Seth.” She tried to choke out.   
“Shut up.” He said sternly.  
Samantha tried to push herself up, but he picked up his foot and placed it on her shoulder blade pushing her back down.  
“You clearly have no respect for me. Trying to stir up shit while I’m at work. Thinking you could get away with it because I wasn’t here.”   
“Seth, please. I swear I wasn’t. My mom asked again because she wanted to know how to plan.” Samantha begged in a shaky voice. She just wanted this to stop.   
“All I hear is that my family isn’t good enough and you want to run away.” He said as he pushed down harder with his foot.   
“No! I just thought it’d be nice for us to visit them for one of the holidays. We haven’t been there in a while. Then we could spend the other holiday with your family. I’m not trying to run away from you, I swear!”  
Her begging didn’t help. If anything it made the situation worse. Seth just saw it as Samantha telling him he was wrong. He removed his foot from her back and stepped backwards. She didn’t try to get up again. She was too scared to move.   
“You’re going to learn to respect me. One way or another.” He told her coldly.   
Samantha felt a sharp stinging across back and yelled out. It wasn’t until the second time when she heard the crack of his leather belt against her back that she realized what it was.  
“Are you done now?” Seth asked, almost annoyed.  
Samantha couldn’t answer. Tears were welling up in her eyes. She was just trying to breathe through the pain. Seth took her silence to mean she was done talking back to him. He reached back again, swinging the belt down this time harder than the previous two. Samantha hissed in pain.  
“Get up.” He ordered.  
Shamantha tried as hard as she could to suck in all her pain in and get to her feet as quickly as possible. She was having some trouble, but she worried the longer she took the angrier he would get. Seth seemed to be getting more and more aggressive as the moths had gone by. What used to just be a mean comment or a shove, turned into a punch, which turned into kicking her while she was down. She didn’t know where he would go from here and she was terrified to find out.   
Samantha managed to make it to her feet, slightly trembling as Seth stood in front of her.   
“Now you’re going to spend the rest of the night doing whatever I tell you to do. When I tell you to do it. If you utter one word that I didn’t tell you to say, I’ll make damn sure you regret it. Then maybe by the time I’m done with you you’ll have learned how to respect your boyfriend. Understood?”  
He spoke in a deep threatening tone. His eyes were cold. Samantha nodded as tears silently fell down her cheeks. She tried, but wasn’t able to hold them back anymore.   
“I didn’t hear you.” Seth stated through clenched teeth.  
“Yes sir.” Samantha answered in a whisper.  
“Good girl.”   
He reached up and grabbed Samantha tightly by the back of the neck, dragging her into another part of the house.


	7. Chapter 7

Tuesday morning there was a knock at the front door. Megan had been knocking on and off for the last few minutes. They usually left for the store the same time every week, which was about twenty minutes ago. Eventually, Megan tried to open the door, and found that it was unlocked. She knew Samantha always locked the door when she left, so she must have been home.

“Sam! You ready to go?” Megan called out as she walked through the front door.  
Megan wandered around the downstairs of the house but didn’t see Samantha anywhere. Megan thought maybe Samantha got a late start and she was still in the shower, so she began making her way upstairs.   
“Sam, you in here?”  
Megan looked into the master bedroom through the open door She saw what looked like someone laying in the bed wrapped up in the blankets. Megan opened the door more and walked into the room.  
“Hey sleeping beauty. Let’s get going. We have to beat the eleven am old lady rush.” She joked as she walked closer towards the bed.   
“I’m sorry Meg. I forgot to call you.” Samantha said with a groan as she continued to lay rolled away from her neighbor.   
“You okay?” Megan asked, sensing the change in her friend.   
“We’re going away tomorrow so I don’t need to go to the store this week. I thought I told you. I’m sorry.”   
Megan raised an eyebrow. She noticed that Samantha’s voice was strained. And found it very odd that Samantha didn’t sit up and greet her. In fact, she hadn’t looked at her at all. She had barely moved.   
“Did you want me to get you anything?” Megan asked as she sat on the bed next to Samantha, the sudden jolt causing her to flinch. “Whoa Sam, what’s wrong?”   
“Nothing. I just had a little accident on Sunday. so I’m sore.” Samantha replied, trying to brush it off.   
“What kind of accident? Did you need me to take you anywhere? Or call Seth?” Megan asked rapidly.  
“No, he was here. He left yesterday morning.”   
“What happened?” Megan asked softly with concern in her voice as she leaned closer to her friend.   
Samantha was hoping that she could just tell Megan that she wasn’t able to go and Megan would be on her way, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen. She sighed and rolled over onto her back. Megan gasped when she saw her. Samantha’s nose was swollen and bruised. She had other various bruises and marks that Megan could see on her arms and coming out from her shirt. Samantha tried to sit up gingerly, wincing as she did.  
“Sam, what the hell?”  
“I fell down the stairs carrying laundry.” She lied.   
“Did the washing machine fall on top of you?” Megan asked.   
It was a joke, but it sure looked like that’s what actually had happened. If only Megan was able to see what the rest of her body looked like.   
“Do you want me to grab you some ice or anything?  
“No thanks. I really do need to get up and get started packing.” Samantha stated as she slowly tried to sit up a little more.   
“Are you sure you should be going on a trip right now?”  
“It’s not a big vacation or anything. It’s our friend’s first wedding anniversary. They invited us to celebrate with them. One of Seth’s old tag partners. It’ll probably be a lot of sitting, relaxing, talking. I can handle that.”  
“Okay, then let me help you. Where is your suitcase?” Megan offered as she stood up.   
“No, no. I got it. You go to the store.”  
“I can go later. I’ll just run the old ladies over with my cart if they get in the way.” Megan said with a laugh. 

The next day Samantha arrived in Las Vegas meeting up with Seth, Renee, and Dean who had flown in together after their last show. Seth had explained to them about the “accident” so they wouldn’t have any questions when Samantha showed up looking the way she did. She just had to stick to the story Seth told her to use. Samantha tried to cover herself as best as she could with baggy clothes, make up, and sunglasses to now draw attention to herself at the airport. Later that afternoon, Renee and Samantha were alone in the kitchen with a glass of wine.  
“How are you feeling?” Renee asked.  
“Sore, but I’m doing okay.” Samantha answered shifting slightly.  
“You know, you don’t have to wear all that. You don’t have to be self conscious around me.” Renee told her in a comforting tone.   
Even in the warm climate, Samantha held her baggy sweatshirt close to her. Samantha knew that Renee knew she was hurt, but there was no way she knew the extent of her injuries. And Samantha wasn’t sure how to explain away some of them.   
“Can I get you anything?” Reee asked.   
“I’m good. This is helping.” Samantha smiled as she held up her mostly empty glass of wine.   
“Well I can help with that.” Renee smiled as she grabbed the wine bottle to refill her glass. “So are you excited to move?”  
Samantha looked at her slightly confused.   
“Dean told me about the land that Seth bought. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to, but that’s Dean. We share everything. He said the groundbreaking for the house was the day after New Years.”  
“Oh yeah, right.” Samantha said, trying to seem like it was okay to talk about since Dean told her.   
“Do you know what he’s going to do with it? I know he wants to build his dream house, but nine acres is a lot of land.”  
“He hasn’t told me his plans for it yet.” For once, she didn’t have to lie.  
“He has to have some idea in mind. I mean nobody just guys and buys that much land for no reason.” Renee stated as Dean and Seth came back inside. 

They joined the girls in the kitchen. Seth walked over next to Samantha and put her arm around her waist. She had to fight back the urge to flinch when he tightened his hold. He purposely placed his hands near her bruises and held her tight. She soon mentally left their conversation while thinking about what Renee had just told her. SHe had no idea that Seth bought land. She had no idea he was designing a new house, and in a few short months building would begin. She wasn’t upset that he didn’t consult her beforehand, it was his money and his home, he could do whatever he wanted, but she didn’t know what that meant for her. He hadn’t said a single word to her about it. Was he going to kick her out when he moved? Did he expect her to move in with him? He clearly had been working on this for a while and had told his friends about it, so why not her?

“So what are you guys doing for the holidays?” Dean asked bringing her back to the conversation.  
“We compromised. We’ll go to Colorado for Thanksgiving and spend Christmas in Iowa.” Seth replied.   
‘Compromise, right.’ Samantha thought. 

“You wanna go see them so bad? Fine. We’ll go. But you bet your ass it’ll be the last time you see them for a long time.” Seth growled as he held her down.

“Oh! You should come back at the end of the month for Halloween! We have lots of fun!” Renee said excitedly.   
“I’m not sure I’d feel safe here on Halloween with that psycho running around.” Seth joked as he pointed at Dean who just shrugged.

Samantha mentally left the conversation again. She now knew what had to be done. She wasn’t sure how or when, but she had to leave. If he was going to take her with him, she would be completely alone. There wouldn’t be any neighbors around to talk to. No one to come check on her. No one to hear her. With his temper getting worse, she didn’t think she could take it. However, having no car, no money of her own, and having everything she did monitored, it would be a challenge. But she had to try. She was starting to think her life might depend on it. And she was going to go down fighting.


	8. Chapter 8

Over the last few weeks Samantha had been waking up in the middle of the night to nightmares. She would be in the middle of their new land surrounded by trees. She would run trying to escape, but only end up deeper and deeper into the trees. If she ever made it to the edge she was met with a tall fence. The fence never had a door. It was always too tall or impossible to climb. There wasn’t a way out. She could hear Seth in the distance calling her name, stalking her around his property. Sometimes he sounded angry, other times he had a devilish tone in his voice and a sinister laugh as if he was playing a game. She would wake up in a cold sweat trying to catch her breath. Thankfully, most nights she was alone. 

Samantha had been much quieter and keeping to herself lately. Seth thought it was just her being more obedient. But then the closer it got to Thanksgiving, the more she opened up a bit. She was really excited to see her parents and sister again. She also knew it meant a few days being surrounded by other people, so a few days of peace where Seth couldn’t do anything. She tried to hide it, because she didn’t want to anger Seth right before they left and cause him to cancel their trip, but by the time they were leaving for the airport she was internally beaming. Samantha was in love with the mountains and the cool crisp air. She never thought she would miss it this much. 

Seth put on his wonderful sweet persona when they got to her parents house. Samantha didn’t get to see that side of him much anymore. Usually only for times like these. They were all gathered in the living room catching up. Samanta’s sister Sarah had excused herself to go upstairs to the bathroom. While her parents were talking with Seth about his job and how things were going with him, Samantha got up and snuck away to try and get a few minutes alone with her sister. When she saw Sarah come out of the bathroom, she quietly called her into the guest room with her and shut the door.   
“Hey. What are you doing up here?” She asked  
“Sarah, can I borrow your phone for a minute?” Samantha asked in a hushed voice.  
“Where’s yours?” Her sister asked.   
“I broke it and I need to make an important call. Please?”  
Sarah reached into her pocket with curiosity and handed her phone to her sister. Samantha was hoping that she would get a few minutes of privacy, but as she walked to the other side of the room Sarah sat down on the bed to wait. Samantha dialed one of the few phone numbers she knew by heart. 

“Hello?”  
“Hey Finn. It’s Sam.”  
“Hey darlin’. How are you? You finally replace that phone?”  
“No. I’m at my parents house so I stole my sister’s phone. I wanted to talk with you about something. I, I need a favor.” She stammered.  
“Anything. What is it?”  
Samantha sighed. “I really hate to ask this, but can I borrow some money? I’ll pay you back as soon as I can. I just need a loan.”  
Samantha really hated to ask, but she had no other choice. She wouldn’t be able to take money from Seth without him knowing, and she didn’t know where else she could get the money from. So she was hoping she could go to the few people she trusted in their life, ask them each for a small loan, and hope it would be enough.   
“Oh? How much do you need?” Finn asked intrigued.   
“Whatever you’re willing to lend. If anything that is.”   
“Can I ask what it’s for?”  
“Christmas presents.” She answered quickly.   
“Why not just ask Seth?”  
“It’s for Seth. And I want it to be a surprise. If I ask him he’ll start asking questions or tell me to use his debit card. Then he’ll see what it’s for and that’ll ruin it.” She had gotten pretty good at lying over the last few months.   
“Makes sense. How much do you need?”  
“I already told you...”  
“You never gave me an amount.” He pushed.  
She signed again. “In total I need a few hundred. But I was going to see if my parents could loan me some too. And see what else I could pull together.” She explained rapidly.   
“That’s a lot of money Sam.” Finn stated.  
“I know.” Samantha replied, sounding defeated.   
“Sam, you’re not into drugs or something are you?” Finn asked, concerned.   
“What? God no.”  
“Good. Because I couldn’t support that kind of thing.”  
I swear Finn, it’s nothing like that.”  
“You know, if you’re in some kind of trouble you can come to me. If you’re in some kind of debt or something.”  
“I know Finn, thanks.” She interrupted.  
Finn didn’t realize it, but that’s exactly what she was doing.   
“Okay.” He said giving in. “I’ll send what I can. How do you want me to get it to you without Seth finding out?”  
“Can you mail it? Like one of those prepaid gift cards? And try to have it get here when he’s on the road so he won’t see it?” She suggested.   
“Sure, I can do that.”  
“Thank you.” Samantha said sincerely. “And whenever you can. Don’t go out of your way.”  
She finished up her conversation and handed the phone back to her sister.   
“Thank you.”  
“You’re welcome.” Sarah replied. “So are you gonna tell me what that was all about?”  
“You’ll see in time. But seriously, it is a surprise so please don’t say anything to anyone. And if Seth asks what we were doing, tell him you were talking with me about a new guy you’re seeing or something, okay?”  
Sarah was very intrigued by the conversation she just heard. It wasn’t like her sister to be secretive, especially with her. Sarah knew it must have been something important so she agreed.

The next morning, the alarm was going off very early. Samantha always got up early on Thanksgiving to help her mother prepare dinner for the guests and watch the parade with her family. She yawned and stretched out in the bed. She could feel that she was alone in the bed, but she had an uneasy feeling as if someone was watching her. She sat up and saw Seth in the doorway of the bedroom holding a cup of coffee.   
“Morning beautiful.” He said with a large smile across his face.   
“Good morning?” She said unsure of his unusually good mood so early.  
“It’s going to be a wonderful day.” He stated.  
He stood there watching her for another moment while sipping his coffee before walking away.   
“Well that was weird.” Samantha said to herself as she rubbed her eyes.  
Seconds after Seth left the room, Sarah came running in and jumped onto Samantha on the bed screaming.   
“What are you doing?” Samantha asked as her sister rolled off of her.   
“Celebrating!” Sarah said excitedly.   
Samantha laughed. “Are you that excited for turkey?”  
“Seriously? You don’t have to pretend Sam! Seth came down and told us this morning. He told everyone this morning!” Sarah exclaimed as she grabbed her sister’s hand.   
Samantha looked and saw a beautiful diamond ring that was not on her finger when she went to sleep. It was probably only a few seconds, but it felt like she was staring at it for hours.   
“Congratulations!” Sarah said as she threw her arms around Samantha. “Did this have anything to do with the conversation yesterday?”  
“No. I had no idea this was coming.” She answered almost dumbfounded. “I guess he has some surprises of his own.”  
Samantha was looking down at her ring while her sister was beaming next to her. How? Why now? Had he figured out she wanted to leave? Then something Sarah said clicked into her head and broke her out of her state of shock.   
“What do you mean he told everyone this morning?” She asked as she looked up.  
Sarah grabbed her phone and opened Instagram. She scrolled through to find Seth’s most recent post. It was a picture of Samantha fast asleep in bed. She was on her stomach with her arms cuddled around her pillow. Her hand was sticking out showing the ring. The room was pretty dark and the flash from his phone caused the ring to sparkle, making it the focal point of the picture. Under the picture was the caption: “Happy Thanksgiving. This year I’m thankful for this woman right here, and all the wonderful years to come.”

Samantha couldn’t believe it. He was trapping her. She wanted to believe he was trying to be romantic and spontaneous, but deep down she knew that wasn’t the case. He did this so she wouldn’t have a chance to say no. And he already told her family, and most likely his as well since he also posted it on social media, so she wasn’t able to hide it. She just wanted to cry, but out of anger. He had spent the last few years trying to control and isolate her, and now he had her trapped. Her destiny was now to spend the rest of her life as his maid, chef, sex slave, and punching bag.

She went through the rest of the day as she was excited. She couldn’t tell anyone how she was really feeling. So she played the part of the happy bride-to-be. It took everything in her to pretend to be looking forward to wedding planning and discussing the engagement like it was a good thing. The next day after a restless night, her parents dropped Seth and Samantha off at the airport. For the first time in days, they were alone. 

“You know, you are a really good cook.” He said to her as they sat at the gate.   
“Thank you.” She replied.  
“Did you have a nice time?”  
“I did. I’ve missed it there.” She answered honestly.   
“Good. Because we’re not coming back. And you’re not seeing them until the wedding.”  
“Bridal shower.” She corrected. It was the only way she could think to respond without going off.  
“What?”  
“Usually shortly before the wedding there is a bridal shower. All the women get together for a party. There’s food and they usually give gifts and share well wishes for the bride and the new couple.” She explained.  
“Well whatever.” Seth said then sunk down in his seat, trying to get comfortable.  
Samantha hid a small smile. She felt like she was able to correct him for a change because for once he couldn’t pretend to know everything about it. And if he wanted this to all go smooth, he had to play along and let the party happen, ruining his plans.   
“We have to visit my mom when we get back. She wants to see us.” He stated, trying to gain control again.   
“I figured.”


	9. Chapter 9

Samantha was surprised how quickly she got something in the mail from Finn. She was even more surprised to see how much he sent her along with a note saying “if you need more, let me know”. This was it. She was going to make a life changing decision and not let herself turn back.

Seth had been trying to call Samantha all day but she never answered. He could understand missing one call if she was out getting the mail or something, but he had called multiple times throughout the day. He didn’t really want to, bue he made the decision to call Megan and ask if Samantha was with her. Megan told Seth that she hadn’t seen her all day, but she would be happy to go next door and check on her. Seth told her that wasn’t necessary. He came up with some excuse about how they had been playing phone tag and just kept missing each other, so he wasn’t worried if she was okay, he was just trying to get a hold of her. As soon as he was off the phone with Megan, he began checking his banking activity to see if she was out and about anywhere. He wasn’t able to find anything. By that evening, he broke down and called Sarah to see if she had heard from her sister.

Sarah hadn’t heard from her and was immediately worried. She kept saying something must have been wrong and they should call the police. Seth tried to calm her down. He told her that he already talked to his next door neighbor and she offered to go next door and check on her. He told Sarah he just wanted to give her a call first and check before he asked his neighbor to go out of her way and do that. He kept his cool and told Sarah that he would have Megan check and call her back as soon as he heard anything. Sarah reluctantly hung up the phone, feeling that something about this didn’t sit right with her. She wasn’t aware, but Seth had no plan of doing that. Sarah began pacing back and forth in her apartment. Samantha would never just go missing without telling anyone. And the tone in Seth’s voice seemed like he was trying to be calm for her sake and not letting his true emotions show through. Sarah paced and kept trying to tell herself she was at the house with some friends or out at the store, she had to be somewhere. As Sarah was waiting for Seth to call her back there was a knock at her door.

This was it. Today was the day. Samantha had gone around the house gathering up things that were hers, which wasn’t much. She packed away her clothes into a suitcase, the ones that she brought with her, not the ones that Seth bought. She took off the diamond ring and left it on the coffee table with a note that simply read “Goodbye” along with his house key. She threw on her backpack, grabbed her suitcase, and began her long walk into town. Once she got there, she went into a store to use their phone to call a taxi to take her to the airport. She didn’t buy a ticket ahead of time because she couldn’t risk somehow being tracked. So when she arrived she bought a ticket for the first available flight to Colorado. Samantha kept her head down as she waited to board the plane hoping that no one would recognize her from Seth’s social media posts. It wasn’t until she was on the plane and it was up in the air she finally felt like she could breathe. Once the plane landed, she found a public phone where she could call a taxi to take her to her sister’s apartment.

Sarah opened her door and breathed a sigh of relief. She threw her arms around Samantha, hugging her tightly.  
“Sam! Thank God! What are you doing here? Seth called earlier worried that he couldn’t get a hold of you.”  
“Don't tell him I’m here, please.” Samantha begged looking up at her sister. “Don’t tell anyone I’m here. Not yet.”  
“Sam, what’s going on?”  
“I left him.” Samantha answered walking into her apartment.  
“What? Why?” Sarah asked as she closed her door.  
“It’s a long story. Just please let me stay here.”   
“Of course you can stay…”  
“And don’t tell anyone I’m here. Not even mom and dad. I don’t want anyone to know until I can figure things out.”

Samantha was actually afraid to tell her sister the truth. She was afraid Sarah wouldn’t believe her. She always spoke so highly of Seth. ANd Sarah and Seth had a pretty good relationship. They talked and joked when they were together. They had each other’s phone numbers.Even if Sarah entertained the idea that Seth had hurt her during arguments, she was afraid Sarah would think she was just over-reacting. Sarah never saw Seth’s bad side. She was also afraid that she might call Seth to ask him about it, and then he would know where she was. At the moment she didn’t know what her next step was. She was surprised she made it this far.   
“Sam, is everything okay?” Sarah asked concerned.   
“Can we talk tomorrow? It’s getting late and after the travel I really just want to get a shower and get some sleep.” Samantha replied. She also needed some time to figure out how she was going to tell her.  
“Sure. We’ll talk tomorrow. I’ll go get you some towels.” Sarah agreed.   
Sarah didn’t want to agree, but she didn’t want to push Samantha too hard. Sarah could tell that she was clearly upset about something.  
“Would you mind grabbing me a blanket too? I’ll crash on the couch.” Samantha added.  
“You don’t have to stay on the couch Sam.”  
“It’s fine. It’s late and you weren’t expecting me. I don’t want to put you out even more than I already have.”   
Sarah again wanted to argue with her, but didn’t. They shared a room growing up. They had shared beds on vacations. Sarah didn’t know why she was so against it now. It was unlike her.   
Samantha grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom. She took a long shower making the water as hot as she could stand it, letting the water run over her bruises. She thought if she spent long enough in the bathroom Sarah would have gone to bed and she wouldn’t have to face her, so she was surprised to see Sarah sitting up on the couch when she emerged.   
“I thought you’d be asleep by now.” She stated.  
“Sam, we need to talk. This fell out of your backpack when you took stuff out.” Sarah said as she was holding up a small piece of paper.  
It was a handwritten note that stated “If this is found and I am not, check his 9 acres. -Samantha Dennison”

Sleep wasn’t something either of them got around to that night. After Sarah found the note, Samantha broke down and came clean. She started out slowly and showed her all of the marks and bruises she currently had, but eventually got everything out and cried into the early morning.   
“He didn’t even ask me to marry him. I just woke up with the ring on my finger. You were the one that told me I was engaged after he already put it all over the internet.” Samantha told her.  
“That’s so messed up.”  
“Tell me about it.” Samantha said as she wiped tears off her cheek.  
“What’d you do with the ring.”   
“I left it.”  
“You should’ve pawned it. You probably could have gotten some serious money for that thing.”  
“And risk him being petty and taking me to court saying he wants it back just to torment me some more? No thanks.”

Sarah’s cell phone started to ring. It was very early in the morning, too early for any kind of friend to call. Samantha could feel her heart sink to her stomach as Sarah grabbed her phone.  
“I don’t know this number.” She said.  
Samantha looked over. “It’s Finn.”   
“Hello.” Sarah answered shakily.   
“Hello. I’m sorry, I know it’s early, and you don’t actually know me, but I’m a friend of your sister’s. She called me from this number about a week ago, and I didn’t know who else to call.” Finn explained rapidly. “I’m worried about Sam. Her boyfriend took off last night saying there was another family emergency. He was really upset. I’ve been trying to call Sam and see if everything is okay but I can’t get a hold of her. It’s the second family emergency he’s left with in a short time and I’m worried something’s wrong.”  
“I, I haven’t heard from her.” Sarah lied.   
“He’s been acting weird lately. And it’s not like her to blow people off. What if something’s wrong with her?”  
“I’m sure if he left he knows what’s going on.” Sarah tried to say.  
“I haven’t heard from him either. First I just wanted to see if there was something I could do, but now I’m worried. Do you think we should call the police or the hospitals or something?”  
Samantha really appreciated her sister trying to lie for her, but she could hear Finn through the phone and he was frantic. Knowing she was causing him to worry was something she was having a hard time with. She quickly grabbed the phone from Sarah.  
“Finn, it’s Sam. I’m okay.”  
“Oh thank God.” Finn sighed. “What’s going on?”  
“I’m dealing with some things right now. Please don’t tell anyone you talked to me. Don’t tell anyone where I am or who I’m with. You haven’t heard from me. I’ll call you when I can. Thank you.” Samantha quickly hung up the phone and sighed, falling back into her seat.  
“Is that why you wanted to borrow money?” Sarah asked,  
Samantha nodded as she sniffed. “After he beat me worse than ever that one night and I found out he bought all that land I knew I needed to leave. But I didn’t have anything. He controlled everything. And if I had used his money he would have found out before I got away.”  
“Why not come to me or mom?”  
“I was desperate. And I didn’t want an interrogation from you two. I couldn’t deal with that. And I was scared that word would get to him somehow.” Samantha explained.  
“Well you’re here now. First thing we need to do is get you a phone so you can always call me. I’ll call out of work and we’ll go to the store when it opens. For now you should go lay down and get some rest.” Sarah ordered.

Samantha had laid down in the bedroom. She was so exhausted she fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Sarah on the other hand wasn’t able to stop her mind from racing. She went back into the living room and left a message at her work that she wouldn’t be in. She was trying to think of what they would be able to do next when there was another knock at her front door. 

“What are you doing here?” She asked as she opened the door.  
“I know she’s here.”  
“I, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sarah lied.   
“Really?” Seth asked as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Then why don’t you seem upset anymore? Why haven’t you called me asking if I’ve heard from her? She left my house and she has no other place to go.”  
“Look Seth, she told me she left but that’s it. Whatever issues you two have that made her leave don’t involve me.” Sarah tried to tell him sternly.  
Seth’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know how she got here, but I know she’s here.”  
Sarah had never seen Seth like this. His friendly smile seemed evil. His tone was cold and demanding.   
“Alright, if she’s not here then she must be at your parent’s house. Do you really want me going over there bringing them into this?” He asked almost as if he was threatening her.  
“If you feel that’s what you need to do. But I doubt she’s there. They would have told me. And as soon as you tell them she left you, they’ll kick your ass out.” Sarah retorted, calling his bluff.  
Seth unfolded his arms and leaned in close to her. “You know where she is. And at some point she has to leave the safety of her hiding place. And when she does, I’ll be there. And I’m taking her with me.”  
Sarah couldn’t stomach the man who was in front of her anymore. She couldn’t keep playing the nice neutral friend. And she certainly wasn't scared or going to back down from him.   
“Look, if she left you she obviously had a reason! If she doesn’t want to go back with you she doesn’t have to.”  
“Like hell she doesn’t.”  
“She’ll be going back with you over my dead body.”   
Seth smiled at her in a way that sent a chill up her spine.  
“If that’s how you feel.”  
With that Seth turned around and walked away. Sarah quickly shut the door and locked it. SHe waked deeper into her apartment and saw Samantha sitting up in the bed.  
Sarah quickly shut the door and locked it. She walked a little bit back into her apartment and saw Samantha sitting up in the bed.  
“Thanks for trying.”   
“He doesn’t know for sure you’re here.” Sarah tried to reassure as she walked into the bedroom.  
Tears fell down Samantha’s cheeks as she nodded. “Yes he does. He wouldn’t have acted like that to you if he wasn’t sure”  
“Maybe he was just trying to scare me to tell him?”  
“He wouldn’t take that chance.”  
Sarah sat down on the bed. “Do you want to call the police now?”  
“For what? I don’t have any proof. He’ll never admit to anything. It’ll be my word against his and I think we all know how that will play out. I just want him to leave me alone and let me live my life.”  
“Don’t worry. He doesn’t know for sure you’re here because he didn’t see you. Do you want to call the cops now?” Sarah asked joining her sister on the bed.  
“If I do, it’ll just be my word against his. And I think we both know how that will play out. I’m not even asking him for anything! I just want him to go back home and let me live my life.”  
“It doesn’t look like he plans on doing that Sam.”  
“I know.”


	10. Chapter 10

“Okay, so as soon as I leave, you lock the door. I’ll run to the store real quick for the phone, pick up some lunch, and be right back.” Sarah said later that morning once stores had opened. “Are you sure you’ll be okay here by yourself?”  
“Yeah, I’ll just hide in the bathroom.” Samantha answered trying to force a small smile. She tried to make it sound like a joke, but she was actually serious.   
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?”  
“What if he’s still waiting out there? What if he sees me?” Samantha rattled off.   
“Okay, calm down. I’ll leave now. I should be back in about an hour.” Sarah assured.   
Samantha locked the door after Sarah left, then went to the place in the apartment where she felt she would be the most hidden. There were no windows in the bathroom. If she went in there and closed the door no one would be able to see her. She stayed in there with the door locked until she heard the front door open and shut and heard Sarah’s voice ring out.  
“I just beat the rain!” She stated as she set the pizza box down on her small kitchen table.   
Samantha emerged from the bathroom. She looked out one of the windows. “Wow, it got dark out there.”  
Sarah handed Samantha a store bought prepaid cell phone. “Here you go. He couldn’t track you on this baby if he tried.”  
“Thanks.” Samantha said with her first genuine smile in days.   
She sat down on the couch and opened up the phone. She began activating it and entering in the few phone numbers she had. Sarah came back to the couch with the pizza. They turned on the television and began eating as the storm rolled in.   
“So who will be your first phone call from freedom?” Sarah asked, trying to keep the mood light.   
“Probably some take out place.”  
“You’re not gonna call a bunch of friends and go on a girls trip?” Sarah asked.   
“I don’t really have any friends.” Samantha answered.   
Sarah looked shocked. Samantha was always upbeat and friendly. Before she moved she always had friends from school and from work and she would just make them on the street.   
“I didn’t really have any way to keep in touch with anyone. The only girl friends I had were Seth’s next door neighbor and the wife of his tag partner. I’m sure he’s turned them against me.”   
“Well we’re going to change that.” 

Suddenly everything in the apartment went dark.   
“What’s happening?” Samantha asked worriedly.  
Sarah groaned. “This happens sometimes when the weather gets bad.”   
“How long is it usually out for?”   
“It varies. Sometimes it’s back in twenty minutes. Sometimes a few hours.”

Thunder crashed loudly causing Samantha to jump. She could swear she heard noises coming from the other room in the apartment, but she realized she was just being paranoid. It was just the thunder and people stumbling around their own apartments trying to find a flashlight.   
“Shortest is an hour. Usually around three or four though. While Sarah got up Samantha was listening to the voices on the other side of the wall. They seemed to be pretty quiet for the amount of people talking, then there a large amount of laughter. Like the kind that would be on a laugh track from an old television show.   
“Is that a TV?” Samantha asked with an arched brow.  
“It sounded like it.” Sarah answered equally confused.   
“Is it normal for only some units to go out?”  
“No. If one's out we’re all out.” Sarah answered as she walked over to the door. 

Sarah’s apartment complex was made up of several buildings with a few units in each building. It gave the residents a bit more privacy than one long hallway with multiple rooms crammed onto each floor.   
Sarah opened the door and stepped out under a small hanging roof. She looked at the apartments around her and saw lights in the window. She saw flashes of television in another window. Another crack of lightning streaked across the sky and she ran back into her apartment.   
“That’s weird. It looks like we’re the only ones out. I’ll go check the…”  
Sarah stopped in her tracks. She saw Seth standing in her living room. His hair was down and soaking wet, dripping small puddles onto the floor. Samantha was standing in front of him, his fingers tightly wrapped into her hair. The knife he was holding to her throat kept her silent.   
“We are leaving. And if you get in the way of that it’ll be over your dead body as you stated earlier. So I suggest you move.”  
“Seth, I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt her.” Samantha begged.  
“Shut up.” Seth said through clenched teeth as he yanked on her hair. “Now you’re coming home with me. And your sister is going to get out of our way and keep her damn mouth shut if she wants you both to live.”  
“Seth, you don’t have to do this.” Samantha tried to reason.  
“I’m not gonna tell you again. Shut up.”

“Something just doesn’t seem right.” Renee said. “Why wouldn’t he have called by now to let us know what’s going on?”  
“Maybe it’s something he didn’t think we’d be worried about. Like his brother was in a minor accident or something.” Roman suggested.  
“I don’t know. I could have sworn I heard him muttering something about Sam when he left.” Dean added.  
The three were sitting in the catering area of the arena getting something to eat before the show that night. They had seen Seth leave and were starting to get nervous when they hadn’t heard back from their friend. It seemed like no one had heard from him since he left. Finn was sitting at the table behind them listening to their conversation while he ate, which wasn’t much. He was nervous as well. He wanted to jump into their conversation and ask questions, but he knew that Samantha would be upset if he did.   
“I really hope she didn’t have another accident.” Renee said.   
Finn’s ears perked up even more.  
“What do you mean?” Roman asked.  
“Last time he left, the family emergency was because Sam took a nasty fall down the stairs. They came to visit us a few days later and she was banged up pretty bad.” Renee told him.  
Suddenly it was like everything clicked into Finn’s head. The marks he saw on Sam during Wrestlemania weekend and hearing them fight. Why Sam didn’t have a phone or keep in touch with people. Why she seemed so out of it lately. Why no one was able to get a hold of her the last few days. And most importantly, why she really needed to borrow money.   
“What about you Balor? Have you heard from him?” Dean turned around and asked.  
“No, I haven’t. But Renee is correct. Something isn’t right.”   
Finn got up and left the room leaving his plate on the table and everyone confused. 

Sarah’s phone started to ring. She and Seth looked over to it on the couch and saw the number that flashed on the screen,  
“Why the hell is he calling you?” He asked.  
“We’re dating.” Sarah blurted out the first thing she could think of.   
“Bull shit. I spend enough time with him and her. I would know.” Seth looked down at Samantha who was shaking. “That’s how you did it, wasn’t it? You went behind my back and got to him.” Seth said angrily.  
“Seth, please calm down.” Sarah tried.   
He ignored her.   
“Did you fuck him?”  
“Of course not.” Samantha answered.  
“I bet you did. He always seemed a bit too close to you. And you never pushed him away. Is that why you wanted a new phone so bad? So you could talk to him while I was gone?” Seth accused while pushing the knife closer to her skin.   
“No! I swear!” Samantha yelped as she felt the cold metal on her neck.  
“Seth, let’s talk about this.”  
“I swear Sarah if you don’t shut the hell up I’ll slit your throat right now.” Seth yelled as he pointed the knife towards her.   
His eyes were so cold. They almost looked black. Every one in a while, lightning would flash and it accented his facial features. They were always rigid. Sarah could barely recognize him.   
“We’re leaving now. And I’m about ready to kill both of you so don’t test me. I have enough land, they’ll never find you. Go.”

He pushed Samantha forward, still gripping onto her hair. She shuffled her feet and slowly began walking towards the door. She was crying. She was terrified of what Seth would do to her once they got home, but she knew she had to get him out of there before he did something crazy. But Sarah was still standing in the doorway, blocking the way.   
“Turn your ass around and get outside. I can’t trust leaving you here so you’re coming too.” He demanded.  
“No.”  
“Seth it’s fine, we can leave her.” Samantha pleaded.  
“No we can’t. Now if you don’t turn around and walk to the car on your own, I’ll drag you there, cut your throat, and throw you into the trunk. If you bleed out by the time we get home that’s on you.”  
Samantha was afraid for her sister’s life. Seth wasn’ t going to have a use for her once they got back to his house. So while he was slightly distracted by yelling at Sarah, she gathered up all courage she could and elbowed him as hard as her body would allow in the ribs. Seth grunted and bent over releasing the hold he had on Samantha. She tried to get away from him while she had the change. Sarah lunged forward trying to get the knife away from Seth. He shoved her out of the way before elbowing her in the face knocking her into the wall. Sarah hit her head and fell to the floor. Seth grabbed the knife with a tight grip again as Samantha ran over to her sister. Seth came up behind her, grabbing her and throwing her to the ground. He got on top of her straddling her waist, keeping his large hand on her chest holding her down as she struggled to get up.  
“Seth please.” She begged through her tears.  
“Did you really think you could just leave?”  
Samantha looked up at the monster above her. Water drops were falling from his hair onto her. She could see the large knife in his other hand light up when the lightning flashed.   
“You’re coming back with me tonight. Either on foot or in a body bag. Take your pick.” 

Before the knife could come in contact with her, Seth was tackled off of her. Sparks of light began to fill the apartment again, but this time it came from multiple flashlights. Samantha sat up quickly and saw a police officer standing in front of her with a gun drawn. She looked around her and everything in the apartment seemed to be happening in slow motion. She saw Seth laying face down on the floor being handcuffed. She looked over to where Sarah was and there were people kneeling down in front of her trying to get her to respond. Seth was taken out of the apartment. Samantha was going to try and crawl over to her sister but a police officer knelt down in front of her.   
“Ms Dennison, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?” The officer asked.  
“Sarah.” Was all she could reply.   
“She’ll be taken care of.” The officer said as a stretcher was wheeled in. “Are you hurt?”  
“I, I don’t think so.” She answered still trying to process what was happening.   
“Okay, we’re going to bring you to the hospital too just to get checked out.” The officer said as he helped her stand up.  
“Why are you here?” She asked confused.  
“We received a call to do a welfare check. Looks like it’s a good thing we did.”

Samantha and Sarah were taken to the hospital. Sarah regained consciousness pretty quickly. Other than a bloody nose and a headache she was okay. Most of what they found on Samantha were old injuries. They made sure to take the time to document everything they found. They filed police reports and Samantha went on to explain everything that happened over the last year that had led up to this. Everything that Seth had done to her and put her through. Their parents were called to the hospital too and informed of what went on. They were released early the next morning and their parents brought them back to their house. They spent another few hours talking about everything in detail since they only got a run down at the hospital. Eventually Sarah and Samantha went off to the guest rooms of their parent’s home to get some rest. When Samantha was finally in her room alone, she pulled out the phone Sarah had gotten her the day before. She called one of the numbers that she had programmed in. 

“Hello?”  
“It was you wasn’t it? You called the police. How did you know?”  
A sigh of relief came from the other end.   
“Wasn’t that hard to figure out once I put all the pieces together. I overheard Dean and Renee talking about your previous accident. Then you needing money, going into hiding, and Seth taking off from work, I figured it out. Everyone else said they hadn’t heard from Seth either, so I tried to call Sarah, and when she didn’t answer I freaked out and called the police. I figured the worst that could happen was me overreacting, and you could be mad at me and get over it when I explained the police knowing where you are isn’t a big deal.” Finn explained.  
“You didn’t overreact. He broke in and threatened to kill her several times. When the cops came he had me pinned to the floor with a knife.” Samantha told him as she began to cry.   
“Oh Sam, I’m so sorry.”  
“He said I was leaving with him. On my own or in a body bag. And I honestly don’t know how long I would have made it if I went with him.”  
“I’m so sorry I didn’t see it.”  
“Don’t be. I didn’t see it either until it was almost too late.” She sniffed. “He has a way with words and is very convincing.”  
“Is there anything I can do?”  
“You’ve already done more than enough. You helped me get out. Without you I’d still be at his house. You saved my life.” 

Finn had so many questions he wanted to ask, so many things he wanted to say, but now was not the time. Now he just needed to focus on the fact that his friend was safe. 

“Thank you so much.”  
“I didn’t do anything special. Just know I’m here for you. I’m not going anywhere. And I can think of a few others who probably won’t either.”  
“Please don’t say anything!”  
“I won’t. Not until you want me to. And when you’re ready, I’ll be there to help.”  
“Thank you Finn. I mean it, thank you so much.”


End file.
